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Studies on plasmid replication

IV. Complementation of replication-defective mutants by an incompatibility-deficient plasmid

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Summary

This paper describes a complementation test system for replication-defective S. aureus penicillinase plasmids in which the incompatibility barrier has been overcome by the isolation of an incompatibility-defective (Inc−) plasmid. This plasmid appears to be stably and irreversibly integrated into the host chromosome as attempts to restore it to its original independent state have been unsuccessful. The Inc− plasmid was able to complement the thermosensitive replication defects of Seg− plasmids belonging to the same original incompatibility class but was unable to complement ones belonging to a different incompatibility class. Positive and negative phenotypic complementation tests were confirmed at the molecular level by isotopic labeling of plasmid-specific DNA molecules.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, The Public Health Research Institute of the City of New York, Inc., 10016, New York, N.Y., USA

    Lorraine Wyman & Richard P. Novick

  2. Department of Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences 140 Gortner Laboratory, 55101, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

    Lorraine Wyman & Richard P. Novick

Authors
  1. Lorraine Wyman
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  2. Richard P. Novick
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Additional information

Communicated by H. Ozeki

The results presented here were included by L. Wyman in her Ph.D. dissertation in the Dept. of Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, June, 1971.

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Wyman, L., Novick, R.P. Studies on plasmid replication. Molec. Gen. Genet. 135, 149–161 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00264782

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00264782

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